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CHAPTER IX

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

PRIMATIVE SAW MILLS AND GRIST MILLS - THE MORRIS MILLS – FIRST MILLS
AT WELLSBORO – BABB’S MILL – IN THE TIOGA VALLEY – EARLY LUMBERING OPERATIONS
– A RAFTING REMINISCENCE – ALONG THE COWANESQUE RIVER – PIONEER MILLS ON
PINE CREEK – AN ERA OF RAPID DEVELOPMENT – RISKS AND CHARMS OF THE BUSINESS
– THE TANNING INDUSTRY – IRON FOUNDRIES AND SMELTING WORKS – THE MANUFACTURE
OF GLASS – PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE – AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.
The pioneer settlers within the borders of what is now Tioga county found
its surface covered by an unbroken forest, made up, for the most part,
of pine and hemlock. The former grew in the valleys and low lands – though
not confined exclusively to them, while the latter crowned the mountainsides
and summits and occupied the uplands. Here and there were areas of the
hard wood varieties, such as "sugar" maple, beech, oak, ash, etc. Before
he could rear a home for himself and the members of his family, the settler
had to clear a space, first for his cabin and afterwards for the little
garden plot, that as the years went by, was enlarged, until the forest
wilderness gave place to cultivated fields, producing abundant crops of
everything needful to sustain life.

Although there was timber in abundance, there was no lumber, and the
rude cabins that were erected, if they were floored at all, were floored
with puncheons and round logs. Saw-mills were, therefore, a necessity,
to provide lumber for the flooring and roofing of these frontier homes,
and it was not long until they began to be erected in various parts of
the county, upon such streams as had a flow of water sufficient to furnish
power for the primitive machinery then in use. These primitive mills, with
their flutter wheels and upright saws, led the way in the march of industrial
development, and about the opening of the century began the work of forest
destruction that has stripped the hills and valleys of the county of the
great growth of pine and hemlock amid the somber gloom of which savage
beasts had roamed for ages.

The grist-mill was no less a necessity than the saw-mill, but before
grain could be ground grain must be raised, and this involved the preliminary
and tiresome labor of clearing fields for cultivation. For several years
the settlers were compelled to go to Jersey Shore and Williamsport, on
the south and to Painted Post, Elmira and Tioga Point, now Athens, on the
north and east, for their flour or for the purpose of having their scant
crops of wheat, corn and other grains ground, and many stories are still
told of the perils and hardships endured during journeys to and from these
trading and milling points.

The first mills resorted to for lumber and the grinding of their grain
by the early settlers in the western and southern parts of the county,
were those built by John Norris, on the headwaters of Little Pine creek,
near what is now the hamlet of Texas, across the line in Lycoming county,
as agent of Benjamin Wistar Morris. These mills, known as "Morris’ Mills,"
were erected as early as 1799, and were on the line of the north and south
State road opened up in that year.

In an advertisement of Benjamin Wistar Morris, published in the Lycoming
Gazette, under date of November 13, 1806, inviting investments in lots
in the new county-seat town of Wellsboro, attention is called to the fact
that "a grist-mill, a saw-mill, and a store are situated with one mile
of the town." These were the mills erected by Samuel W. Fisher on Marsh
creek, below the borough limits of Wellsboro, a fuller reference to which
will be found in the chapter devoted to Delmar township. They were undoubtedly
the first mills in this section of the county.

The first saw-mill on Babb’s creek was erected in 1806, on the site
of the present village of Morris, by Samson Babb, the pioneer settler on
that stream.

IN THE TIOGA VALLEY

In the absence of authentic records it is impossible, at this late day,
to give the name of the builder of the first saw-mill in the Tioga river
valley, which soon after its settlement became the scene of active lumbering
operations. Previous to 1812 mills were erected along that stream and near
the mouths of its branches as far south as Canoe Camp, and much lumber
was manufactured for shipment down the river as well as for supplying an
increasing local demand. It is said that the first grist-mill in the county
was erected on this stream, at the mouth of Mill creek, by Aaron Gillet,
about 1797 or 1798, and that he also erected a small distillery about the
same time. Both were soon carried away by high water and Gillet removed
to Cherry Flats. Adam Hart, one of the early settlers of Lawrence township,
built a saw-mill and a distillery soon after locating. Joseph Middaugh,
who settled near Hart, also erected a saw-mill. The first saw-mill at Tioga
was built by Dr. William Willard, about 1800, or soon after. The first
grist-mill here was built in 1805 by Nicholas Prutsman and his sons. As
early as 1803 Elihu Marvin built a saw-mill at Mansfield, and in 1805 added
a hand grist-mill, which he had purchased of Dorman Bloss, a millwright,
then living at Beecher’s Island. In 1812 Amos Spencer erected a saw-mill
and a grist-mill at Canoe Camp. In 1809 this first grist mill at Mainesburg
was erected by Noah Rumsey, Sr., and two years later sold by him to Jonathan
L. Spencer. It was about 1810 that the De Pui grist-mill was erected on
the Tioga river below Tioga borough. It was resorted to by the settlers
of the neighboring townships for many years.

All these early mills were primitive in their character and construction.
The grist-mill and the distillery were operated to meet the demands of
the settlers in their immediate vicinity. The saw-mills soon became of
more importance, and the lumber manufactured in excess of local demand
was floated down the river to the markets on the lower Susquehanna. It
was the only thing for which cash could be quickly obtained, and it was
relied upon by the settlers to furnish them the means to clear their lands
and equip them with the implements needed in their cultivation.

The early lumbermen on the Tioga river, therefore, floated the product
of their mills down to the junction of that stream with the North Branch
of the Susquehanna at Tioga Point, now known as Athens; thence it descended
the latter stream to the markets below. Returning from these rafting trips,
the men generally came to Williamsport and walked over the mountains from
Trout Run or Roaring Branch, for railroads had not then been built and
the stage line was slow and uncertain.

It would be hard to estimate the value of lumber floated out of Tioga
county before the advent of railroads. An old record says that in 1804
about 452 rafts, containing 22,000,000 feet of lumber, besides a large
number of arks, loaded with wheat, flour, staves, whiskey and shingles,
the whole aggregating in value $5,000,000, passed out of the North Branch
at Northumberland. Of course only a small part of this was from Tioga county,
it being then comparatively unsettled, but it shows the magnitude of lumbering
operations in northern Pennsylvania even at that early day.

A RAFTING REMINISCENCE

An old diary of a trip from Painted Post on a raft to
Port Deposit, made by Judge Strong, of Steuben county, New York, in the
early development of the business, gives an interesting reminiscence. Judge
Strong says:

Many a time and oft when a boy have I taken a convenient
station during the spring freshet and watched for hours the rafts and arks
sweeping out of the Conhocton and Tioga rivers, their rollicking stalwart
crews, stripped to the shirt, neck and bosoms bare, with stout arms, when
the pilot shouted, "Right! Left! Jump to the work," raising the large oars
to the utmost, force them through the resisting flood with a will, then
lower them and with a run carry them back ready for another stroke. So
they fly from side to side, with brief breathing spells, like cannoners
in an engagement.

The ice had gone in March, 1838 and the judge was at Painted Post when
the opportunity presented itself for him to take advantage of the ambition
of his life. He was employed to assist in running a raft to the bay as
a "light hand," at five shillings per day and "found." The first place
they passed was Newtown, now Elmira, and they landed six miles below at
Hogback, where Sullivan had a battle with the Indians and Tories in 1779.
He made the journey to the point of destination and returned, and gave
a very interesting account of what he saw and learned, not omitting "a
peep" at the legislature which was then in session at Harrisburg.

ALONG THE COWANESQUE RIVER

In 1804 Eddy Howland built a saw-mill on the Cowanesque above Knoxville,
and soon afterward Emmer Bowen and Ebenezer Seelye built one near Academy
Corners. In 1811 Bethlehem Thompson erected a grist-mill a mile above Knoxville,
the water being taken from Inscho run, and conducted to the mill in long
continuous troughs hewed out of pine logs. This mill was operated about
ten years. The first grist-mill at Westfield was built by Ayres Tuttle
previous to 1812. It appears on the assessment list of that year. A grist-mill
was erected at Beecher’s Island or Nelson about 1810 by John, Thomas and
Hopestill Beecher, pioneer settlers there.

In 1815 a distillery was built by Joshua Colvin at a large spring near
Academy Corners. He brought the still and other apparatus from Herkimer
county, New York. Rye and corn were used exclusively. The rate of exchange
was six quarts of whiskey for one bushel of rye or corn. Sometime in 1818
John Knox bought Colvin’s apparatus and started a distillery at the Strawbridge
spring, a short distance east of Academy Corners, and carried it on about
five years. At this manufactory whiskey was made from corn, rye and potatoes.
The product of both distilleries was sold at home.

PIONEER MILLS ON PINE CREEK.

The first mills on Pine creek north of the Lycoming county line were
built between 1812 and 1815. One of these was erected about a mile and
a half above Ansonia, in Shippen township, by Richard Ellis. Other early
mill owners in this township were Asaph Ellis, who built a grist-mill;
Reuben Herrington and Richard Phillips, who built and operated saw-mills.
The pioneer saw-mill in Gaines township was erected at Gaines about 1815,
by John Smith, on Long run. Capt. John Phoenix built a mill in 1817 near
the mouth of Phoenix run. The first grist-mill in the township was erected
at Furmantown before 1820, by Aaron Furman. It was a hand mill and was
later replaced by one run by water power. Mr. Furman also built a saw-mill
which he afterwards sold to Col. Dudley Hewitt. All or nearly all of these
early mills were washed away in the flood of 1832, which either greatly
crippled or utterly ruined financially those who were engaged in lumbering
operations in the Pine Creek valley.

It is needless to go into a detailed history of all the mills erected
in those earlier years in the different parts of the county. They have
received adequate mention in the township chapters. They were all water
mills and were equipped with the machinery then in use. Many of them could
cut no more than 1,000 feet of lumber in twelve hours, and their output
was consequently insignificant compared with that of even a small mill
of the present. Much of the timber was simply squared and was floated down
the stream in that form, many deeming it a less risky and more profitable
way of handling it.

AN ERA OF RAPID DEVELOPMENT

The early settlers in the Pine Creek valley about and above Ansonia
were lumbermen rather than farmers. Pine creek was their highway to and
from Jersey Shore, * the trips being made in canoes, constructed out of
heavy pine trees, or in rude flat boats. When there began to be a demand
for lumber the settlers scattered along the creek saw their opportunity
and commenced manufacturing. The pine in this section of the county was
of a superior quality, and made better lumber than can be obtained to-day.
Mills sprung up rapidly and a new impetus was given to the business when
the construction of the canal was commenced up the West Branch of the Susquehanna.
By the year 1832 large investments had been made in timber lands along
Pine creek and in the erection of saw-mills. Lumbermen came from the State
of New York, as well as from Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, and engaged
in the business. The flood of 1832, already referred to, proved disastrous
to the growing enterprises, and its effects were felt for a long time.
The field was, however, too inviting and it was not long before business
rallied, and the woods swarmed with lumbermen, while the valley resounded
to the chorus of many mills.

In 1829 Leonard Pfoutz erected a saw-mill and a grist-mill at Manchester,
below Ansonia. In 1831 John Daily and John Beecher bought out Reuben Herrington,
who was known as a very stirring man. About this time John Mathers erected
a saw-mill near the Gaines township line. This mill was afterward operated
by Mathers & Scoville and then by John Mathers & Company, and after
1845 by Jesse Locke. Leonard Pfoutz sold his mills to Stowell & Dickinson,
who, in 1833, were operating two saw-mills. In 1834 they were running four
saw-mills and a grist-mill, and were cutting about 5,000,000 feet of lumber
annually, which was floated down the stream to the river.

Hezekiah Stowell, the head of the firm, was a native of Chenango county,
New York, where he was born in 1796. He came to Wellsboro, Tioga county,
in 1833, young, vigorous and ambitious, and, associating himself with Peter
Dickinson, they commenced lumbering on an extensive scale. In 1835 Mr.
Stowell took up his residence at Pine Creek, now Ansonia, and continued
to live there until 1851. The firm was active and progressive. They ran
as high as 100 board rafts down Pine creek in a season, or when the water
was favorable, and gave employment to 500 men. No greater firm carried
on lumbering in the county in those days. They purchased 25,000 acres of
timber land and laid the basis for an enormous business. But owing to losses
they became commercially crippled and their land and property subsequently
passed into the hands of Phelps, Dodge & Company, and that firm prepared
to operate the mills on a more extensive scale than the former owners.
The Manchester mills, as they were named, came to be regarded as the center
of a large business. The little village of Ansonia, named for Anson G.
Phelps, head of the firm, grew up at the point where Marsh creek unites
with Pine creek, and it still retains the name.

After the new firm became the owners of the property, Mr. Stowell managed
the business for them until 1851. He then retired to Delmar township, where
he had purchased 1,200 acres of land, settled upon it and in course of
time cleared a farm of 600 acres. There he resided until his death, which
occurred December 26, 1874.

Mr. Stowell was succeeded as manager by E. B. Campbell, who continued
to serve the great firm in that capacity until his death at Williamsport,
July 17, 1890.

Owing to the danger and uncertainty of running the manufactured lumber
down Pine creek, the firm decided that it would be better to float the
logs down the stream, secure them in a boom or harbor, and manufacture
them at a point near the river. The Manchester mills therefore were abandoned,
and what was known as Phelps mills were built on Pine creek, in Clinton
county, near the junction of the Fall Brook and Beech Creek railroads.
These mills were operated on an extensive scale until 1871, when they were
dismantled and removed to Williamsport, where still better advantages were
secured for the manufacture of lumber. Scarcely a vestige now remains to
mark the sites of the Manchester and Phelps mills, on Pine creek. All the
parties who were active in conducting these great mills are now deceased,
including the old members of the firm, and new men have taken their places.
During the thirty-six years that these mills were operated on Pine creek,
they manufactured and sent to market hundreds of millions of feet of lumber,
the greater part of which was a superior quality and commanded the highest
price. But the stock of timber is now exhausted and the buzz of the busy
saws is no longer heard where these great Pine creek mills once stood.

In 1870 the firm was incorporated under the name of the Pennsylvania
Joint Land and Lumber Company, and Gen. Jerome B. Niles, of Wellsboro,
became its resident representative, a position he still holds. The company
yet owns large bodies of land in Delmar and Shippen townships.

Peter Dickinson, the partner of Hezekiah Stowell, was a native of Bainbridge,
New York. He was born May 1, 1797, and died January 11, 1879, and is buried
in Wellsboro Cemetery. A younger brother, Samuel Dickinson, born July 22,
1805, died March 10, 1886, and is buried in the same lot. Both of these
brothers were pioneer lumbermen, and are well remembered by the older lumbermen
yet living. John Dickinson was a brother of Peter and Samuel.

Soon after Phelps, Dodge & Company became the owners of the Stowell
& Dickinson property, Mr. Dickinson was sent to Baltimore to manage
the interest of the new firm in that city, as that was the

market to which they shipped their lumber. He did not remain very long
there, for in a few years we find him back on the Susquehanna conducting
a mill near Lock Haven. He was a man of "large expectations," but never
realized what he so fondly cherished.

His younger brother, Samuel, was wiser. He came to Wellsboro in 1832,
built a storehouse, stocked it with goods and did a large business. The
storehouse was the building in which Chester and John L. Robinson – who
purchased it – afterwards carried on business and later opened the bank,
where the great robbery occurred in 1874. The old building is now used
for a carpenter shop.

Silas Billings, an early settler and mill-owner and lumberman at Knoxville,
made an investment in mills and lands in Gaines township about the time
that Stowell & Dickinson began operations at Manchester, and soon became
a leader among the lumbermen of the Pine Creek valley. In 1831 he purchased
the John Benn mill property at Gaines, and within a few years was operating
on an extensive scale, having added to his Gaines township lands large
bodies of pine and hemlock lands in Elk township. During the later years
of his life and after his death his extensive business enterprises were
managed by his son, Silas X. Billings, who soon became the leading lumberman
of the county. He operated on a large scale, and through the exercise of
good judgment and an intelligent oversight of his affairs was notably successful.
Among the other prominent operators in this township were John L. Phoenix,
Col. Dudley Hewitt, Stephen and Simeon Babcock and David Rexford.

RISKS AND CHARMS OF THE BUSINESS.

Few, if any, of the early lumbermen made any money at the business.
The owners of small mills scarcely realized as much from them as a good
farmer would now make on a twenty-acre farm. But lumber was about the only
thing that brought any ready money into the county, and the timber had
to be cleared away before the land could be cultivated. Farming, at least,
in the western part of the county, was a low ebb, none making more than
enough to eke out a scanty living for a family. Men, women and children
had to live, and to live decently had to have clothing, and to live at
all had to have something to eat, and the men especially had to have something
to drink. They could raise a little rye, which was changed into whiskey
at the distillery in Wellsboro’ but tea and coffee and spices and cotton
they could not raise, and the only business that furnished the money to
buy these necessaries was lumbering.

It is hard to tell whether it was sawed lumber or squared timber that
brought most money back to the creek settlement; and what did come generally
went to Wellsboro to pay store bills contracted during the lumbering season,
never for a moment forgetting the little stone distillery across the creek
in that town. Pay day was always "after rafting," and it was generally
futile and very unpopular to attempt to collect a debt till after the spring
floods had floated the lumber to market and its diminishing price had been
brought back.

With all the hard work and drawbacks of those days, lumbering on Pine
creek had its charms. With the hardy, rugged lumbermen it made little difference
whether he slept on a board, hemlock boughs, or a feather bed. Most of
them preferred the former.

THE TANNING INDUSTRY

The assessment list of 1812 shows that two tanyards, one assessed to
William Baker and the other to Ebenezer Jackson, were then in operation
in Tioga township. As the different townships settled up local tanyards
were established and the tanning of leather, for home use, became one of
the recognized industries of the county. In time some of these local enterprises
began to tan for shipment, and in this way extended the industry. The presence
of vast forest of hemlock, promising an almost inexhaustible supply of
hemlock bark, essential in the tanning of leather, invited a larger investment
of capital, and led to the erection of a number of great tanneries at different
points within the county. These are given proper notice in the township
chapters. All of these extensive tanning plants have been erected within
the past thirty years, and, with the exception of the Kingsley tannery
at Mansfield, the tannery of John Gisin, at Wellsboro, and the Eberle tannery
at Westfield, are devoted to the production of sole leather. In May, 1893,
these sole leather tanneries, except the one at Elkland, passed into the
control of the Union Tanning Company, which is a member of the United States
Leather Company. This great corporation now operates the tanneries at Blossburg,
Tioga, Osceola, Westfield, Stokesdale, Niles Valley, Hoytville, Leetonia
and Manhattan. At the time of its erection in 1883, the tannery at Hoytville
was the largest steam tannery in the world, having a capacity of 1,000
hides of leather a day. The aggregate output of the tanneries of the county,
when working to their full capacity, is over 1,000,000 hides of leather
per annum. During later years, owing to a number of causes, the output
has been greatly reduced. These various enterprises give employment to
hundreds of men, not only in and around the tanneries themselves, but in
the woods, getting out hemlock bark, not far from 100,000 cords of which
is used annually. A large proportion of the hides tanned come from South
America. Their transportation to the tanneries and from them, as leather,
forms an important item in the freight traffic of the railroad companies
doing business in the county.

IRON FOUNDRIES AND SMELTING WORKS

Perhaps the very first attempt at establishing an iron foundry in the
county was made by Benjamin W. Morris at Wellsboro. The year in which it
was built is not clearly known, but it must have been quite early. It stood
about where the glass works were erected in more modern times. William
Bache says that he remembers being in the foundry. A few castings, consisting
of sugar kettles, cooking utensils, andirons, etc., were made. He obtained
his iron from bog ore. As Mr. Bache was born in 1812, it must have been
some years after that when the foundry was established - unless it was
the ruins he saw. In that case, it might have been built about the time
of his birth, or earlier.

About 1812 a small iron foundry was started at Lawrenceville, but the
name of the founder has not been preserved. In later years the plant was
carried on by James Kinsey.

About 1825 Judge John H. Knapp, of Elmira, New York, became interested
in coal and iron lands at Blossburg, and a few years later began the erection
of an iron furnace. After being owned and operated by a number of parties,
usually at a loss, the plant was purchased by T. J. Mooers, in 1864, and
has since been used as an iron foundry. In 1855 an iron furnace was erected
at Mansfield by Charles F. Swan for the Mansfield Iron Company. It was
operated until 1870, the ore being obtained from a deposit in Richmond
township three miles west of Mansfield, and also from a deposit at Roseville.

Although iron foundries are still carried on successfully in many of
the villages and boroughs of the county, the production of pig iron from
iron ore ceased a quarter of a century ago. The iron ore, containing but
about forty per cent. of iron, was not of a character to warrant a further
investment of capital, in competition with other portions of the country,
where the character of the ore and extent of the deposits insured a cheaper
production of pig iron.

THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS

The presence in the same localities of glass sand-rock and of coal offered
an opportunity for the investment of capital in the manufacture of glass.
The first factory was established at Blossburg in 1847 was operated for
nearly forty years, first by William Dezang, of Geneva, New York, and after
him by James H. Gulick, and then by Hirsch, Ely & Company. After being
successfully carried on for nearly forty years it passed into the control
of the United Glass Company, and was shut down. Another factory was erected
about 1850 at Covington. It has also had various owners, the present ones
being a local stock company. It is now being operated on the co-operative
plan. In later years a factory was established in Wellsboro, but after
being twice destroyed by fire, the enterprise was abandoned. All these
factories were devoted to the manufacture of window glass, a fine quality
of which was produced. A revival and extension of this industry is looked
for in the near future.

Another natural resource is moulding sand for foundries. The deposits
are extensive and considerable quantities are shipped to Elmira and other
places. Large quantities of glass sand are also shipped from Brownlee,
in Duncan township, where a rock-crushing plant is in operation.

PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE

But it is to the patient and persistent labor of sturdy and stout-hearted
husbandmen that the greater share of the present prosperity of Tioga county
is to be attributed. This labor, begun with the felling of the first tree
and the clearing of the first garden spot, has transformed the face of
the county from a dense and unbroken forest wilderness, into cultivated
fields, orchards and gardens, dotted with farm homes, the abiding places
of comfort, thrift, intelligence and happiness, and has, notwithstanding
a rough and rugged surface, placed the county well up in the list of the
prosperous and productive agricultural counties of the State.

At first the land in the valleys of the principal streams and their
branches were settled and cleared, it being thought that those valley lands,
in addition to being the most accessible, were the most fertile. But, as
the county became more settled, the uplands began to be cleared and their
fertility tested, and the fact established that some of the richest and
most enduring soil is to be found in the more elevated sections. The upland
farms are now, therefore, regarded as equal, one year with an other, in
productiveness, with those in the creek and river valleys.

During the earlier years of the county’s history, when lumbering was
largely depended on to supply ready money, agriculture did not receive
the attention it has since the practical disappearance of the pine and
hemlock forests. The diversified farming of the present was unknown, as
well as the methods pursued by the first class farmer of to-day. The man
who owned a stumpy clearing was glad to produce enough wheat, corn, rye
or oats to feed his family and the animals used in the labor of the field
and the woods, the surplus that found its way to market being a very small
per centage of the whole.

The fields of the present bear but a slight resemblance to those of
early days. On many of them the labor of four generations – continued year
after year with infinite patience – scarcely sufficed to free them, first
of stumps and, later, of stones, so as to make possible the use of modern
farm machinery. Their present condition bears eloquent witness to what
can be accomplished in the face of the most discouraging and disheartening
primary conditions, and tells the story, better than words can tell it,
of the sturdy and stalwart character of the men and women, who, from the
earliest settlement of the county to the present, have been the main factor
in its industrial growth and development.

While all the cereal grains are produced in the county, more attention
is paid to oats, corn and buckwheat than to wheat, barley and rye. Considerable
tobacco has also been produced, especially in the Tioga and Cowanesque
river valleys, within the last twenty years, each year, until the recent
decline in prices, showing an increased acreage.

The census of 1890 shows the following acreage and production of each
of the leading cereal crops:

Products.

Acres,

Bus.

Products.

Acres.

Bus.

Wheat,

2,371

34,766

Corn,

4,540

137,904

Rye,

454

5,953

Buckwheat,

17,369

300,206

Oats,

31,605

870,747

Barley

1,787

32,113

This gives a total of 58,126 acres cultivated, with an aggregate product
of 1,381,659 bushels. As there has been a notable increase in the acreage
of cleared land since these statistics were gathered, it would be safe
to assume that the total production of these cereals for 1896 would reach
over 1,500,000 bushels, provided there was a proportionate increase in
the acreage devoted to them. Within the past few years, however, many farmers
have turned aside from the growing of the different grains to the growing
of grasses for pasturage and hay, and the county is fast forging forward
as a county of dairy and meadow farms. The cultivation of buckwheat, however,
still holds a prominent place, a large acreage being each year devoted
to it. In 1890, as shown in the figures given, 17,369 acres produced 300,206
bushels, making Tioga and Bradford counties, which produced 506,412 bushels
in the same year, two of the greatest buckwheat-producing counties in the
State. The cultivation of tobacco increased from 234 acres and 292,198
pounds in 1879, as shown by the census of 1880, to 457 acres and 498,752
pounds in 1889, as shown by the census of 1890. This crop, when prices
are good, is a very profitable one, but during the past two years prices
have fallen so low that the production has greatly decreased.

An Examination of a summary of the assessment for 1896, prepared by
the county commissioners for transmission to the secretary of internal
affairs, as required by law, shows that there are 17,086 taxables in the
county. The total number of acres of land reported is 669,576, of which
410,488 acres are cleared and 259,088 acres are timber lands. The total
value of real estate is given at $16,158,685, of which $13,773,835 is taxable,
and $2,384,850 is exempt from taxation. There are 9,531 horses and 14,759
neat cattle in the county. The aggregate county tax is $104,636.10, the
levy being seven mills on the dollar. The aggregate state tax is $9,765.87,
the levy being four mills on a dollar. The amount of money at interest
is $2,437,972 and the total county debt $175,000. The total taxation for
all purposes, for 1895, including bridges, roads, etc., as well as that
derived from money at interest, was $306,610.70.

It is a well-known fact that there is a wide margin between the assessment
value of real estate and its actual value, the former usually representing
about one-third of the latter. Applying this rule to Tioga county, the
present value of its real estate would reach a total of $50,000,000, a
grand increase in value over that of 100 years ago, when an average of
one dollar an acre would have been considered a good price to have paid
for the land of the county. The present value represents not only the labor
expended in clearing and cultivating the land, in erecting buildings, fences,
etc., but it represents the advantage of being within easy reach of the
best markets in the country, insuring a certainty of always realizing the
best prices for the products of the garden, the field and the orchard.
It also represents the advantages of good schools, good churches and good
society, things as desirable as fertile acres of modern farm equipments.

AGRUCULTURE SOCIETIES

The first agricultural society in the county was organized at Wellsboro
as early as 1854. The names of the first officers are not obtainable, but
those for 1855 were as follows: President, William B. Clymer; vice-presidents,
Daniel L. Sherwood, George McLeod, B. C. Wickham, Ira Bulkley and J. S.
Kingsbury; corresponding secretary, F. E. Smith; recording secretary, G.
D. Smith; treasurer, John F. Donaldson. There was a long list of names
of persons composing the executive committee, embracing many of the best
men in the county. Efforts were made to arouse an interest in agriculture
throughout the county and they were successful. Fairs were held, premiums
were paid, and a stimulus given to the growing of better crops of all kinds
and to the breeding and rearing of better grades of horses, cattle, hogs,
sheep and poultry. In 1859 Horace Greeley delivered the annual address,
which called forth a large attendance.

At the beginning of the Civil War the fairs were discontinued, but were
resumed in 1866, and regularly held for a number of years. Among those
who served as presidents of the society may be mentioned Hon. Stephen F.
Wilson, Hon. Henry W. Williams, Hon. John I. Mitchell and Hon. Henry Sherwood.
Such distinguished speakers, aside from Horace Greeley, as Hon. Henry White
and ex-Governor Pollock delivered annual addresses.

On November 3, 1877, the Tioga County Pomona Grange was organized with
forty charter members, its hall and headquarters being in Wellsboro. It
soon afterwards purchased the grounds, consisting of thirteen acres and
buildings, of the Tioga County Agricultural Aid Society. Its special and
annual meetings are held here, but the annual fair has been practically
abandoned, not receiving paying financial support.

The Smythe Park Association at Mansfield and the Cowanesque Valley Agricultural
Association at Westfield, have for a number of years conducted successful
fairs in the boroughs named. Both organizations are well managed and embrace
in their membership many of the most active, aggressive and enterprising
business men of the county. They receive adequate notice in the chapters
devoted to Mansfield and Westfield.

The Patrons of Husbandry are exceedingly strong in Tioga county, having
the neighborhood of fifty granges and 5,000 members, composed of both sexes.
The avowed object of this order is to advance the interest and elevate
the condition of agriculture and to aid those engaged therein to conduct
their business in conformity with scientific principles. The Farmers’ Alliance
is also represented in the county, but as yet have not obtained a strong
foothold.

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